1949 Chevy 3100 - the journey begins

[focusedontheprize]

It has been a little hectic. I put such a tight deadline on trying to get this thing fired up, I am just between a rock and a hard spot.

Motor has been mocked up and the mounts have been made. Tacked them and sent the mounts out to finish the full welding. Once I get those back, they will be primered and painted. The transmission mount has been fabricated, so again more cleaning and painting.

Finally cleaned up the rear end from the Mercury Mountaineer. Cleaned, washed with Marine Cleaner, prepped with Metal Ready, PORed and painted. As I pulled the axles to have them re drilled for a Chevy bolt pattern, we noticed the axle bearing in the driver side was going. It ruined the axle unfortunately and because I am past my 30 day return policy on the rear end, I have to go buy an axle. Stellar. Ordered my driver's side axle bearing from NAPA and axle seals for both sides so I will have those ready to go. Along with that I ordered all my hardware and brakes for the rear so everything will be ready to go once I swap out the axle.

It has been a bit frustrating the last few weeks. Same song and dance as everyone here. So much to do and not enough time to do it (I have only been able to work on this on Saturday and half of Sunday because of the commute).

Time will tell though.

[99 to Life]

49'

I actually don't know what model mine are, both are from GM I believe. I think dodge ran them as well. I have two, prolly should look into it. Def sounds good there should be no trimming. Can't wait to see it all together.

[focusedontheprize]

Originally Posted by 99 to Life

49'

I actually don't know what model mine are, both are from GM I believe. I think dodge ran them as well. I have two, prolly should look into it. Def sounds good there should be no trimming. Can't wait to see it all together.

Thanks me too.

Check this site out for some reference on your NV3500

http://www.manualtransmissionpart.com/290.html

[99 to Life]

that site is pretty cool, thanks for the link. def will be helpful. Seems like a lot of people are unfamiliar with this trans.

[focusedontheprize]

Originally Posted by 99 to Life

that site is pretty cool, thanks for the link. def will be helpful. Seems like a lot of people are unfamiliar with this trans.

My old man worked with a guy who worked for Munchie. He said in order to service these transmissions you need someone who is very knowledgeable about them.

I am just hoping I never have to get to that stage.

[99 to Life]

yeah tranny's are the last thing I wanna know how to work on. Just sooo much other interesting things to learn about. But if you want stuff done right, sometimes it better to do it yourself. My friend paid 700 to rework a t-5 and they messed it all up and didn't help him out after that. So really I can't imagine trying to have anyone work on a trans. Rather just find another used one.

[Coach529]

Looks like a fun build.....I am envious of your motor tranny combo!!

[focusedontheprize]

Been a while since I have updated this, so lets get started..

Last time I left off I was mocking up the motor/trans combination. Again it was a '70 Chevy 292 with a 5LM60 (NV3500) I had pulled from a '92 K1500.


Mocking up the motor for the engine mounts:


You can see the cardboard template of the firewall I had:


Clearance between the harmonic balance and crossmember was a little snug, but I left it so I could get the belts on/off when I needed:


Roughening it in:


Passenger side mount:


Exit of the shifter will be perfect with the bench seat:

[focusedontheprize]

It was time to start looking for a rear. Since I have plans to drive this truck (it is going from coast to coast in 5 months) I wanted a rear end that had disc brakes, good gearing, and was strong. After doing research online, Kabwe's gave me some insight on the Ford 8.8 so I started looking into those. Great rear end...3.73 gears, posi unit, strong axles, and an abundance of them.

Pulled this from the yard for $75:


Cleaning up the rear end/removed the old saddles:


Parking brake setup reminder:


Parking brake setup again:


Prepping the rear end for POR15, I love this stuff:

[focusedontheprize]

Motor time.

Like I said before, this motor was an absolute stellar buy - I couldn't have been happier. So after I re-assembled the motor, I was kind of hung up on what color I wanted to put on it. I could have gone with the grey, but when I was at the parts store picking up paint things changed...

[xpickup]

focusedontheprize, looking good. I know what you mean on those 8.8 rears. They are a great rear for cheap and with disc brakes and posi. I have one setting for a future project.


Shannon

[focusedontheprize]

Originally Posted by xpickup

focusedontheprize, looking good. I know what you mean on those 8.8 rears. They are a great rear for cheap and with disc brakes and posi. I have one setting for a future project.


Shannon

After Kabwe had mentioned to look into them, I was amazed more guys aren't using them for their projects. My buddy just yanked an S10 rear end and it ran him $125 and had drums. He joked about me putting a Ford in a Chevy and after he saw what it was all about he changed his mind. He is on the hunt for one now haha.
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[99 to Life]

great combo looks great

[focusedontheprize]

Here is the motor before I laid the color:




Some more color shots. I really am pleased how the red had turned out:






My neighbor is an absolute great guy. He has had his fair share of '69 Z28s (he had a maroon one that he sold a few years ago, it still hurts me) and project cars. He just purchased this blast cabinet and was cool enough to told me to use it to the fullest. So here was my first use of it. I wanted to clean up intake and exhaust manifolds.





Time to start laying some paint on them. Feels good when you are painting fresh sandblasted pieces.

[focusedontheprize]

Unfortunately I did not get any pictures of when I installed the motor and transmission. However, at this point I knew I wasn't going to make my deadline. No sweat, next year is another year. So I enjoyed a week vacation at the lakehouse and came home a few days early before everyone else so I could work on the truck.

With the help of my buddies and a few beers as rewards, I set the cab on the frame. A sigh of relief definitely hit here. Putting something back on the truck makes life a bit better.


[IMG]http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8277/8707940688_717932c6fd_c.jpg[/ING]


My next move was to start cleaning up the cab. I planned on applying POR15 on the floor so everything needs to be completely cleaned.




The floors on this truck were absolutely solid except for maybe 2 inches up by the toeboard. Here is a picture of the floor below the seat:


Floors:

[focusedontheprize]

It is always comical when you start going through these old vehicles. When I bought my '72 Challenger, I found a Michael Bolton CD underneath the rug and have it hanging in the workshop. Well Lucile was no different. Looks like someone misplaced a utensil..



I am pretty sure no blood...I think:


Couple shots of the truck:

Soon you will be bare:




I took a week of in July to work on the truck. I will not forget this morning, I woke up early to get started before the heat set in. I had ordered all my stuff through Advance Autos online so I could just go pick it up and get started. Well, there was a change of plans. They shipped in the wrong rotors, brakes, and hardware. They admitted they made the mistake and told me they would get the stuff on the truck that day and drove in before noon. Sweet, so I can put this stuff on in the dead heat of July weather. Sometimes you do what you have to do.






And we have tent time. Haha, it was just getting way too hot:

[focusedontheprize]

So we have enough cars at my parents house to fill both bays. It was just a bit too difficult to work on it in the driveway, so once the Challenger was brought home I wanted to bring the truck back down to the garage. It worked out really well as for the remainder of my week of vacation it just rained.

Off to the garage:


Going down the road..well not how I wanted to at the moment:


Mocked up the front end and things to get an idea of the distance between the axle and the ground. It was around 4" which I was happy with. The tires on the truck at the moment were 70 series, I would be setting up to 75s, which I thought was a better idea.

[chevyboy73]

looks nice and solid! love that DOT like orange paint, keep on rockin!

[focusedontheprize]

Originally Posted by chevyboy73

looks nice and solid! love that DOT like orange paint, keep on rockin!

Thanks Chevyboy.

[99 to Life]

sweet blast cabinet, I'd like to build one once I get some things in order. I'm about to buy a little blaster and its gonna suck without some containment of that sand. Truck looks swell.

[focusedontheprize]

Getting up to speed here with the shots..

Motor is in (disregard that water neck as I end up buying a straight one):


Keeping the firewall as clean and wire-free as possible:


The 292 is longer than the 216s and the 250s...end up running a puller fan setup, however I will fab something up so I also have a pusher fan on top to ensure this thing never runs hot:


Others:


This picture shows the stock exhaust manifold setup. After looking at that for about 5 minutes, I found myself on Tom Langdon's site ordering split exhaust manifolds..


Tom's split exhaust manifolds (his picture). He was an absolutely great guy to work with, just make sure you don't leave out any details of what you are running. Since I was running the '70 292 and I was running my stock steering box in the '49, he needed to cut the flange on the front exhaust manifold and modify it for clearance:

[focusedontheprize]

Few photos of the puller fan setup I am running. It is out of a earlier Taurus. My father end up fabricating the mounts for the fan.

[Coach529]

Looks great!!

[focusedontheprize]

Originally Posted by Coach529

Looks great!!

Thanks Mike.

[99 to Life]

49, wasn't sure if you had a typo, but if the fan is on the front of the rad like so, it would be best as a pusher, or else you'd just be fighting the wind trying to pull the air into it.